William Allen Vivour (fl. 1830-1890) was the single most successful 19th-century planter in Africa due to his substantial and flourishing cocoa plantation in Fernando Po (Equatorial Guinea). He was the son of a recaptive of Yoruba ancestry from present day Lagos and resettled in Sierra Leone by the British West Africa Squadron, and eventually settled in present day Equatorial Guinea and Nigeria.
The name Vivour is a contraction of the word Survivor, which is related to the circumstances that led to his father's arrival at Sierra Leone. William Allen Vivour was born in Sierra Leone and had four siblings.
By 1855, William Allen Vivour migrated from Sierra Leone to set up his base in Nigeria and Fernando Po.
On arrival at Fernando Po, W. A. Vivour entered the trade of palm oil and yams with the indigenous Bubi tribes. This involved the collection of the palm oil fruits by the Bubi which were then sold to merchants like Vivour.
W. A. Vivour's interest in palm oil grew so significant that it brought him into direct conflict with King Jaja of Opobo in the time leading up to the Jaja-Ibeno War.
W. A. Vivour married Amelia Barleycorn, a member of one of the prominent Fernandino families. They had several children, one of which was Garnet Vivour, father to both RAF pilot Bankole Vivour and Justice R.W.A Rhodes-Vivour.
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